29% Have the Right Marketing Strategy, Do You?

29% of CMOs are headed into 2015 with the right marketing strategy. Are you one of them? The reasons CMOs give for not having the right marketing strategy are numerous. Download SBI’s annual research report; “How to Increase Marketing’s 2015 Contribution to Revenue,” and determine if you’ve covered all your bases.

We have talked about how the CMO has the toughest job in the company, these days. The pace of marketing change continues at an unrelenting pace. As you put the final touches on your 2015 marketing strategy consider external best practices. Leverage SBI’s annual research report and checklist as your marketing audit tool.

I recently sat down with a CMO and walked through her marketing strategy. The overall strategy was solid, but the checklist identified a major gap. The gap was the lack of live events in her campaigns. The attention spans of her buyers are like most buyers and the need for additional events was a good catch. The point she made was do it even if you think you have all the bases covered. The research and checklist allowed her to audit her strategy and catch some opportunities.

Strategy Audit:

We all send documents to someone we trust to review for feedback. This confirms we covered all the requirements. Think of the research report checklist as your internal audit tool. Read through the report and complete the checklist. The checklist provides a quick gap analysis. The analysis could mean the difference between making your revenue contribution number or not. If you don’t have a marketing strategy, the research report provides a foundation for developing one.

Strategy Alignment:

As you walk through your strategy ask yourself these questions:

Is your marketing strategy just a list of tactics masquerading as a strategy?

Is it the same as my competitors?

Is it aligned with my changing buyer?

Is it aligned with the corporate strategy?

Is it aligned with the product strategy?

Is it aligned with the sales strategy?

The answer to the above questions will determine your planning path for 2015. Consider a quick strategy review before releasing your strategy to the entire company.

Strategy Planning:

We all understand the new buyer, tattooed from head to toe with people fighting for their attention. Consider the following challenges you face when getting your clients attention:

How are you planning to get your buyers attention before the sales team engages?

What does your referral generation program include? Do you have one?

How are you enabling the various networks to gain warm introductions?

How are you leveraging buyer process maps to communicate that you understand your client’s challenges?

Have you determined the right balance and type of communication options for your clients?

What’s your communication cadence and does it align with the buyer?

Getting Started

Start with reading the entire report. Download How to Increase Marketing’s Contribution to 2015 Revenue report here. Complete the associated marketing assessment checklist. It should take 10 minutes. Completing the checklist provides additional areas of alignment, gaps, or gulfs. After completing the analysis you’re ready to develop or update your marketing strategy. If you’re interested in reviewing the report in more detail schedule a 90 minute 1-1 review here.

John Staples

John is the global leader of SBI’s account management business unit. As such, he and his team help clients across 19 verticals drive top line growth and operational efficiency in sales and marketing.

John’s marketing, sales and product expertise span a multichannel strategic approach. He has an unyielding focus on strategic and key account development, which enables strategic alignment between all functional team members in order to reduce acquisition cost and increase lifetime value.

His broad experience in sales, marketing, product and engineering allows him to bring a unique problem solving approach to his team and clients. As he has discovered through decades of experience, clients are often distracted by the symptoms of a larger problem and overlook the root cause of it.